Family Poses Dead Mother With Beer, Cigarettes and Crossword Puzzles at Memorial

Miriam Burbank was known around her home town as the “Party Lady.” So when she died, her daughters decided that they wanted her funeral to be a reminder of how she lived. So they dressed her corpse up in New Orleans Saint’s colors, put a menthol cigarette in her hand and a Busch light in front of her in an effort to recreate an image of her engaging in her favorite pastimes.

They then sat her body up at a table in her home and let her family and friends say their goodbyes.

Burbank’s corpse also had a book of her beloved crossword puzzles nearby and a discoball overhead showing that Burbank was a woman of varied interests .

As creepy as it may seem, family members said that seeing their mother in a less traditional funeral setting helped them through the grieving process.

“When I walked in, I feel like I was in her house and I didn’t hurt so much,” sister Sherline Burbank said. “Because it’s more of her, and it’s like she’s not dead. It’s not like a funeral home. It’s like she’s just in the room with us.”

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